Xue Yanxin froze in surprise.
Before she could process what she’d just seen, a group of construction workers arrived at her stall.
“Miss, Grandma Yang isn’t coming anymore, right? The lunch boxes are still the same price?”
“Don’t worry, big brother,” Xue Yanxin replied with a smile. “The price hasn’t changed.”
“Great. Same as usual then, give me two.”
Most of the workers always bought two lunch boxes.
It wasn’t because one wasn’t enough.
Grandma Yang had never opened her stall in the evenings, and after a long day’s work, the men were usually too exhausted to cook. They would simply heat up the second lunch box they had bought at noon, and the lazier ones ate it cold without bothering to reheat it.
This was Xue Yanxin’s first time running the stall alone.
She had to hand out meals, collect payments, count change, and keep track of the sales all at once. Before long, she was so busy that Huo Zhiyuan slipped completely from her mind.
Only after nearly all the lunch boxes had been sold and the crowd finally dispersed did she look back toward where she’d seen him.
This time, Huo Zhiyuan had fully turned around.
Her eyes slowly swept over him.
Just that morning, he’d left the house looking every bit the polished corporate elite in his tailored suit.
Now…
His clothes were wrinkled, dusty, and even slightly torn.
His neatly styled hair had been flattened by the safety helmet he’d just removed. Several damp strands clung to his forehead, soaked with sweat, making him look unusually disheveled.
He stood not far away, staring at her.
His brows were tightly knitted together as though struggling with something.
…
Huo Zhiyuan stood rooted in place, unable to take a step forward.
The embarrassment he’d barely managed to suppress surged back with full force the moment he saw Xue Yanxin.
Did she… see me fall just now?
The image of himself tripping and landing face-first in front of an entire construction crew flashed through his mind again.
The shame was so overwhelming he nearly dug a hole through the soles of his shoes with his toes.
As the president of one of the country’s largest corporations…
He hadn’t even been this humiliated on the day his company had supposedly gone bankrupt.
Meanwhile, Xue Yanxin’s thoughts were headed in an entirely different direction.
So…
He doesn’t actually spend his days working in an office?
He dresses in a suit every morning, then changes into work clothes and comes here to lay bricks alongside the construction workers?
And now that I’ve discovered his secret, he doesn’t know how to explain it to me…
No wonder he looks so conflicted.
How tragic!
Could Qi Junlin have blacklisted Huo Zhiyuan across the entire industry?
Is that why he has no choice but to make a living on construction sites now?
Qi Junlin, you little brat!
How could you be so ruthless?
A man this elegant and untouchable should be shining high above like the moon, not covered in cement dust, laying bricks on a construction site!
In her mind, a vivid image appeared.
A beautiful, noble man fallen from grace.
Her heart ached for him.
Without another thought, she picked up two lunch boxes and walked toward him.
“Have you eaten yet?”
She held one out to him.
Huo Zhiyuan accepted it.
“You…”
“You don’t have to explain anything.”
She interrupted him before he could continue, her eyes overflowing with sympathy.
“I understand everything.”
“…You do?”
He stared at her in confusion, a hint of unease creeping into his voice.
“What exactly do you understand?”
Why is she looking at me like that?
There’s pity…
And even a little heartache…
She really did see me fall, didn’t she?
“I understand everything.”
Xue Yanxin looked at him earnestly.
“I’ve never expected you to become successful again overnight, so don’t put so much pressure on yourself.”
“I chose to stay with you after thinking everything through carefully. I’ve accepted reality.”
“So whether you’re still the powerful CEO you used to be, an ordinary office worker sitting in an air-conditioned office, or even a construction worker laying bricks here, I won’t look down on you.”
“You don’t need to worry about how to explain any of this to me.”
“…Huh?”
Huo Zhiyuan’s eyes widened.
“You’re saying… you’d look down on me?”
He even pointed at himself in disbelief.
I’d be worried she’d despise me?
I don’t discriminate against any profession…
But she’s currently nothing more than a street vendor without even a business license.
And she’s worried about looking down on me?
Why is she so absurdly confident?
And why does the path her thoughts take resemble Qi Junlin’s so much?
When Qi Junlin had first returned to the Huo family, he’d been utterly convinced he was the destined heir and had never taken Huo Zhiyuan seriously.
If Huo Zhiyuan hadn’t deliberately gone easy on him, Qi Junlin could have trained for another ten years and still wouldn’t have stood a chance.
Explain myself?
Just what kind of ridiculous story has this woman invented in her head?
Forget it.
As long as she didn’t witness him falling flat on his face…
She could misunderstand whatever she wanted.
Huo Zhiyuan resigned himself to it.
“You…”
“You…”
They spoke at the exact same time.
“You go first,” Xue Yanxin said.
“You first,” Huo Zhiyuan replied.
Again, perfectly in sync.
“You should go ahead.”
“When did you decide to start selling lunch boxes?” Huo Zhiyuan asked. “Why didn’t you tell me? Do you work the evening shift too?”
What he had really wanted to ask was:
Did you see me fall?
But asking would only expose him if she hadn’t.
So he changed the subject.
“I started thinking about it when Grandma Yang said she was retiring,” Xue Yanxin answered. “I don’t work evenings. Same schedule she had.”
She fell silent after that.
“And what were you going to ask me?” Huo Zhiyuan asked curiously.
“Will you be coming home for dinner tonight?”
She smiled.
“If you are, I’ll make some soup.”
Over the past few days, Huo Zhiyuan usually ate breakfast at home before leaving.
Lunch and dinner, however, were always eaten elsewhere.
Xue Yanxin had assumed his company provided meals.
But after discovering him working at the construction site…
That assumption completely fell apart.
If he was buying meals every day anyway…
Wouldn’t it be better to just come home and eat?
Huo Zhiyuan had intended to decline.
Normally, Qi Junlin handled lunch and dinner arrangements.
But…
If that little rascal ever found out he’d taken a literal tumble at the construction site today…
He’d laugh until he couldn’t breathe.
Just imagining Qi Junlin’s smug, gloating face was enough to irritate him.
After only a brief hesitation, he agreed.
“No need to go through so much trouble,” he said. “If you have any lunch boxes left over today, just save one for me tonight.”
So easy to feed.
As expected of a big shot.
Xue Yanxin smiled to herself.
“I didn’t know I’d run into you here.”
“The dishes today were made to suit the workers’ tastes.”
“They all contain cilantro.”
“Do you want me to pick it out for you?”
She squatted beside the stall and opened her lunch box.
Huo Zhiyuan squatted beside her naturally.
Without saying a word, he picked every piece of cilantro out of his own meal and dropped it into hers.
Some pieces escaped his notice.
Whenever he found another sprig while eating, he’d simply pick it up, along with the meat it was touching, and place both into Xue Yanxin’s lunch box.
…
When Assistant Li Fei arrived, this was the scene that greeted him.
His impeccably dressed CEO…
Now covered in dust, clothes wrinkled and torn…
Was squatting beside a pile of construction debris with a woman, eating a boxed lunch.
Every so often, he even transferred pieces of meat from his own lunch box into hers.
Since when had President Huo become this close with Miss Xue?
And…
Were they really both eating boxed lunches?
Li Fei had eaten with Huo Zhiyuan and Qi Junlin several times before.
Every meal ended with President Huo criticizing Qi Junlin’s terrible taste in food.
As for Miss Xue…
Li Fei clearly remembered how arrogant and overbearing she’d been before.
Yet now…
She was squatting on the ground, eating a fifteen-yuan boxed lunch without the slightest complaint.
With Xue Yanxin still present, Li Fei didn’t dare approach.
Revealing Huo Zhiyuan’s identity was out of the question.
He waited until Xue Yanxin pushed her food cart away before walking over.
Then another shock hit him.
The lunch boxes…
She was the one selling them?
The moment Li Fei approached, Huo Zhiyuan immediately stood up, brushed the dust off his clothes, and his expression turned cold.
“Didn’t you tell me that once Grandma Yang moved away, she wouldn’t appear here anymore?”
Fortunately, Huo Zhiyuan had never told Xue Yanxin what kind of work he actually did.
Otherwise, today’s encounter at the construction site might have exposed everything.
If Xue Yanxin truly was connected to the other side…
All of their careful planning would have been ruined.
Cold sweat instantly broke out across Li Fei’s back.
“Miss Xue was only helping Grandma Yang at the stall before. On top of that, she was actively looking for a job, so I assumed that after Grandma Yang left, she’d focus entirely on job hunting.”
“I’m sorry, President Huo.”
“I failed to investigate thoroughly and made the wrong judgment.”
“Be more careful next time.”
Huo Zhiyuan’s voice was calm but carried unmistakable authority.
“The work we’re doing cannot tolerate even the slightest mistake.”
“Yes, President Huo.”